The 1920 Argyllshire by-election was a parliamentary by-election held for the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

constituency of

Argyllshire Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

on 10 March 1920.

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the appointment of the sitting Coalition Liberal MP Sir William Sutherland as a Lord of the Treasury. This was an office of appointment under the Crown which enabled Sutherland to take up the post of Scottish Liberal

whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

but under the constitutional requirements of the day it meant he had to resign and fight a by-election.

Candidates

As the candidate of the Liberal-Conservative coalition government Sutherland had no Unionist opponent. Neither did he face opposition by the Independent

Asquithian Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of ...

Liberals, who chose not to stand a candidate. He was however opposed by the Reverend M MacCallum of Muckairn,

Oban Oban ( ; ' in Scottish Gaelic meaning ''The Little Bay'') is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William. During the tourist season, th ...

for Labour.

Issues

Reverend MacCallum was reported as being not only the representative of the Labour Party but also of the Highland Land League. Another candidate representing the Labour and the Highland Land League had been Sutherland's only opponent in Argyllshire at the 1918 general election.F W S Craig, ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949''; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p614 Sutherland was fighting on the record of the Coalition government. Given this was a straight fight between the Coalition and Labour it is little surprise that Sutherland sought to portray it as a struggle against socialism and nationalisation and that MacCallum played up the issue of community control against the vested interests ranged against the working class.The Times, 24 March 1920, p17

The result

The press reported there was little excitement in the constituency on polling day.The Times, 11 March 1920, p14 Perhaps because the combined Liberal and Conservative votes were substantial there seemed little likelihood of an upset. Because of the scattered geography of the constituency it took until 24 March to get all the ballots collected and counted and the result formally declared. Sutherland held the seat with a reduced majority but Labour had nearly doubled its share of the vote.

The votes

References